This morning, Wednesday October 10th
2001, the Second Session of the Working Groups of the X Ordinary
General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops took place, 221 Synodal
Fathers were present, for the election of the Rapporteurs of the
Working Groups and for the continuation of the discussion on the
Synodal theme. The names of the Rapporteurs of the Working Groups
were announced by the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops
during the Fifteenth General Congregation, which was held this
afternoon.

At 17:00 today, in the presence of the Holy
Father, with the recital of the Pro Felici Synodi Exitu, the
Fifteenth General Congregation took place, for the Audition of the
Auditors II, the Second Audition for the interventions by the
Auditors and for the continuation of the interventions by the
Synodal Fathers in the Hall on the Synodal theme The Bishop:
Servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World.
The President Delegate on duty was H. Em. Card. Ivan DIAS,
Archbishop of Bombay.

At the beginning of the Fifteenth General
Congregation, the Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, H. Em.
Card. Jan Pieter SCHOTTE, C.I.C.M., read the following
announcement, regarding the promulgation of the Post-Synodal
Exhortation Ecclesia in Oceania of the Special Assembly for
Oceania of the Synod of Bishops:

I am happy to inform this gathering that the Holy
Father, after much thought and consideration, has decided to
promulgate the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in
Oceania in the Vatican, during a private audience to take place
on Thursday, 22 November 2001, at 11:30 A.M. in the Clementine Hall
of the Apostolic Palace, the 4th Anniversary of the
opening of the Special Assembly for Oceania.

Among those invited to take part in this event
are Members of the Post-Synodal Council for Oceania, Members of the
Roman Curia who were synod fathers for this Special Assembly,
Members of the Post-Synodal Council for Asia who will be in Rome for
a regularly scheduled meeting and the President and Executive
Committee of the Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of
Oceania. Other participants in the Special Assembly for Oceania who
will be in Rome on that date will also be invited to be present for
this momentous occasion which will bring to a close the work phase
of the Special Assembly for Oceania.

At the present moment, I seek your prayers for
the Church in Oceania who has eagerly awaited this document. The
Church in this region is now called upon to welcome this
post-synodal apostolic teaching in a spirit of love, to spread and
implement its contents on the level of the diocese and parishes with
renewed missionary zeal in response to the Holy Father’s continual
call for a new evangelization, particularly at the beginning of the
third millennium.

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Then, the Secretary General of the Synod of
Bishops made the following communication regarding the Synod works:

A variation must be added to our calendar for
Thursday, October 11th.

Tomorrow morning, during the XVI General
Congregation, we will celebrate the Hour of Terce with prayers for
the victims of the terrorism attacks and for peace. After, the
audition of the Fraternal Delegates will take place, and finally,
the general discussion in the Hall.

During the afternoon, the XVII General
Congregation will take place according to the calendar, with the
addition of a very important variation. In fact, towards the end of
the Congregation at 18:45, a special rosary will be said as an act
of our communion to impetrate peace according to the intention of
His Holiness John Paul II, in pastoral charity and collegial
solicitude of all the Churches.

[00279-02.03] [NNNNN] [Original text: Latin]

The Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops
then read the List of Rapporteurs of the Working Groups,
elected in the Second Session this morning. The List is included in
this Bulletin.

Finally, the Secretary General of the Synod of
Bishops made the following communication regarding a variation to
the List of Moderators of the Working Groups.

Another vote has taken place for the substitution
of H. E. Mons. Anthony Theodore Lobo, who returned to his diocese.

H. E. Mons. Michael Concessao, Archbishop of
Delhi (India) was elected as the Moderator of the English Language
Group B.

[00281-02.03] [nnnnn] [Original text: Latin]

This General Congregation ended at 19:00 with the
prayer Angelus Domini, and 233 Fathers were present.

This intervention stems from the experience that
as lay faithful we live within many-faceted realities in a world
where today there have been great changes.

While we feel the passion and the anxiety for the
world growing in us, we more and more frequently find ourselves
noticing the tearing division between faith and life, between the
Gospel and cultural expressions, between the Church and the world.

The composition of these tensions could be
determined, perhaps, also starting from a positive look upon the
world, careful to discover the seeds of good and of the Grace of God.

In the effort to overcome the ambiguity present
in human reality, we need to be helped, by our Priests, to:

-recognize the presence of the Spirit, who works
and waits to be received

-to discern the signs of hope and prophesy, to
embrace them, to make them fruitful and bring to fullness

-to know how to see, starting from within reality
and history, the desire that God nurtures for His creation

-To grow in the awareness that reality, the
world, and history are the theological places proper to the believer.

The Incarnation of the Word reveals to us the
will of God who selects in a definitive way, the condition of "our
humanity and fragility" (St. Francis) as His own condition. The
human face of Jesus Christ reveals to us the desire that God
nurtures for every man: that he may fully become himself and may
complete his original vocation.

For this we must be urged, above all, by the
poverty of others, by the weakness of the little ones, by the
disorientation of the young, by the solitude of the weak, which is
easier for us to encounter.

We are aware that only by looking at reality with
the eyes of God, we will suceed in enbracing the wailing of the
world not as those of agony, but as the birth pains of the new
world, in which justice will find stable residence and the presence
of God will be luminous.

1. We all know very well how difficult it is to
proclaim the Church's teaching on marriage and family in the
contemporary world which often totally rejects marriage or reduces
it to a transitory, pleasure based contract. Therefore --as a
Catholic layman, husband and father-- I have been wondering why
Christian families have not been given by our Church any example of
a married couple that was official1y recognised --as a couple-- to
be blessed or saintly. However, very soon --during this Synod-- we
will be able to participate in the first such a beatification. Maria
and Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi will be the first couple in the 2000
years long history of our Church to be beatified together. We will
final1y be able to revere Christians who consciously advanced to
sanctity not individually in spite of their marriage (as many
married saints of the Middle Ages did), but together through their
sacramental marriage. The beatification will symbolically take place
in the first year of the new century and millennium. I hope that
this is only a beginning. Therefore I ask all the Synodal Fathers
that they engage their diocesan structures in the beatification
processes of married couples with at least equal zeal to their
engagement in the cases of priests. Let me say also say that I dream
about a liturgical celebration of the feast of the Holy Family of
Nazareth taking place on 26 December. Christmas --even in the very
secularised Western culture-- is the moment where family values are
mostly cherished. In my opinion it would be pastoral1y extremely
useful if episcopal conferences were given a right to decide on
having this feast on 26 December, wherever this day is a national
holiday.

2) In the communities of "Faith and
Light" movement founded by Jean Vanier, which are gathered
around persons with mental handicaps, I learned that the Church has
got two treasures: the Eucharist and the poor. But both treasures
rather seldom go together.

Just one proposal. It is a tradition in our
movement that mentally handicapped persons serve as altar boys. For
them it is a great honour and joy, for others it is an obvious sign
that God has loved and chosen what is stupid in the eyes of this
world. Wouldn't it be proper if bishops insisted on having persons
with visible mental or physical handicaps as altar boys? Not instead
of, but better together with those handsome and carefully dressed
clerics who usually serve them...

3) In the theme of this Synod it is said about
giving hope to the world. Instrumentum laboris reminds that
bishop should be a prophet of hope. This is a clear reminder of the
speech by the Bl. Pope John XXIII at the opening of the II Vatican
Council when he spoke about prophets of hope and prophets of doom.

But how to be prophets of hope if it is necessary
for bishops to be signs of contradiction to the dangerous trends of
the contemporary culture, if it is necessary to criticise? From my
experience as a journalist and commentator I can say that it is
possible to be a prophet of hope even being at the same time a sign
of contradiction.

Polish bishops wrote in their important letter on
dialogue and tolerance (1995) that pain of the world should be also
the pain of the Church. Therefore when Christians, bishops including,
criticize the world, they should present themselves as those who are
part of the world, who suffer with it, and not as external observers.
The critical remarks -- if we want them to be heard and understood--
should clearly flow from inside of the world, and not from outside.
It must be evident that we criticize our world, and not the world
alien to us.

Our Council is an organ of service, coordination
and communion, in respect of personality, Charism and the role of
each person. A hand full of lay faithful around the Episcopal
Commission of the Assembly of Patriarchs and Catholic Bishops in
Lebanon.

There are many obstacles: misunderstandings,
conflicts, enmity, exclusion. Making the walls fall, filling the
ditches, gaining trust, especially of the Bishops...

The greatest problem is young people!
Disheartened by tension, hermetic language and above all the lack of
trust towards them.

Visit of Pope John Paul II and the World Youth
Day

An event outside the norm: the visit of His
Holiness Pope John Paul II to Lebanon.

Previous participations from 2 to 4 people. At
Czestochowa a coach load of 40. For the World Youth Day in Paris our
young people enthusiastic about the visit of Pope John Paul II to
Lebanon and his unforgettable meeting with young people at Harissa,
whence they wanted to cry out to the whole country.

The blessing by the Patriarch Cardinal Sfeir
himself. A wonderful experience for the young Team of volunteers in
a climate of solidarity and total transparency. Giving equal
opportunity to everybody, especially to the distant dioceses of
Beirut. Over 2,500 young Lebanese were in Paris to meet His Holiness
Pope John Paul II and the money left over given to the young people.

The fruits of the World Youth Day in Paris

Opening towards the reality of the universal
Church - Twinning with the French dioceses - Deep friendship, over
20 French delegations in Lebanon during the following summer. -
Collaboration between the apostolate of the laity of our two
churches. - Setting up commissions for youth around the bishops.

Above all: our commission for the young; 50 young
men and women engaged in the service of the Church with enthusiasm
and with remarkable seriousness and efficiency.

The Jubilee Year

We accompanied and animated all the realities of
the Holy Year in our country, in Lebanon and in Rome. Thanks to our
young people: 1,500 Lebanese at Tor Vergata.

Simple Ideas

Do not criticise, do not judge, love first of all,
without expecting from the other any initiative, love the movement
of the other as one’s own, the diocese of the other as one’s own.
Jesus presents mutual love there where one lives: "For where
two or three meet in my name, I am there among them". (Mt
18:20).

Mutual love, availability, team work. "Giving
one’s life for one’s friends" is the source of true
communion.

To the few remaining number who will resist, we
can propose an ideal which will give meaning, taste to their life,
more than just seeking money, pleasure, science or power: efficient
actors in the new evangelization of their country and all of the
Near East.

We often hear that the men and women of today are
seduced by the idols of the 21st century: power,
possession and pleasure have conquered the dreams of humanity. It is
stressed that the first victims are young people. I wish to say that
we are not seduced; the idols do not fill the void produced by any
of the atheist materialism.

Most men and women in the world today have become
poor: we are hungry for bread, but we are also hungry for God.

We wish our bishops to be sure, as Mary was sure,
that the Lord loves each man and woman with infinite love, and that
He is saving us. Each Bishop, before being wise and powerful, has
been chosen and is anointed by God to be a sacrament for salvation,
of His Love. They must be men of trust and hope. Each Bishop has
been called to be a pontiff, a bridge between God and men, between
them and nature, and with himself.

The lay faithful, fathers and mothers of a family
are learning late what the Church has told us: it is not enough for
children to be loved. It is necessary for them not only to see and
hear, but also and most importantly feel that they are being loved.
Only in this way it is possible to educate them and form them
towards the truth and the good. This, which is valid for us, fathers
and mothers of a family, is also valid for our bishops. Each child
is unique and different to all the rest, and each one of them claims
for himself or herself a word, a presence. Bishops must "first
of all" be felt as brothers and friends before being accepted
as fathers and teachers.

I have been close to many bishops. I think they
all haven’t enough time to do everything they would like to do.
Some would like to stop the sun in the sky so that a day would have
300 hours to work. However, even if this were possible, time would
still not be enough to do good. In our own small attempt, even the
lay faithful have this temptation: we would like to give our
children absolute and clear certainties without thinking that in the
end they are temporary and relative certainties. At times one could
do one’s utmost, with a feeling of urgency, but defining
priorities and in a spirit of co-responsibility so that what one
does is done well, letting the Lord do the rest and He certainly
does the rest in abundance.

Men and women today need believers who transmit
hope through a witnessed message with conviction and enthusiasm. The
vocation to holiness is a call to self-assertion and to full
happiness. Renouncing sin is a call to self-denial, to egocentricity,
selfishness and death. The God of Jesus Christ is the God of freedom,
of justice, of life, of peace. Jesus Christ is truth and one must
state this so that everybody knows it and get closer to the Father.

We would like and we need holy bishops, who try
to be consistent in what they believe in, think, say and do. Bishops
who are worthy, detached and free before any bond or power, and who
feel at the same time that they are unworthy servants of the most
humble and poor, since they cannot give them anything in exchange
and that sometimes do not even succeed in acknowledging the good
received.

We would like and we need bishops who listen to
and love the Church, in daily matters, in reality, that they love it
especially in people, starting from their brother bishops, priests,
religious men and women, lay faithful men and women.

Due to growing impoverishment, the people of
Ecuador now live a diaspora. The universal Church, present in all
local Churches, showed itself only in one of its roles, as Mother
and Teacher. It is also a sign of collegiality. I trust in the fact
that my compatriots will be, starting from what has been experienced
in their homes, a valid help and a new strength for the Church and
the bishops who paternally listened to them.

In my intervention I would like to refer to
Article 92 of Instrumentum laboris (Solicitude of the Bishop for
consecrated life) read in the light of the Apostolic Letter Novo
Millennio Ineunte, particularly in the part regarding the Church as
the home and the school of communion (art. 43 and 45).

Three brief reflections:

1. Instrumentum laboris speaks of the always
present "instances of incrementing the mutual relations among
the Episcopal Conferences, the major Superiors, and their own
Conferences." What has been done up to now seems very fruitful
and encouraging, even if it is not always free from uncertainty.
Particularly important for the increments of these mutuae relationes
is the so-called mixed bishops-religious commissions which should
first of all be instruments of exchange and consultation. After many
years of work, it seems that they should be able to play an even
more part if the structure of these commissions were revised, giving
them a more concrete approach and perhaps competences, always in
respect of the precise rules of participation, but also in
accordance with the spirituality of communion (NMI v. 45).

2. It would certainly be very useful also at the
diocesan level to have adequate and efficient instruments (commissions,
working groups and others) to foster stable and qualified contacts
for the mutuae relatationes between different forms of consecrated
life present in the diocese, and their Bishop. These instruments
would be of particular importance for the institutes of lay
consecrated life (brothers, female institutions, secular
institutions), who would thus have a greater possibility to bring to
the attention of the bishop their situations, which often have
different nuances from the problems which clerical religious
institutions experience. In consecrated people, and I am speaking in
particular on behalf of consecrated women, they could reinforce even
further the sense and joy in belonging to and serving the ecclesial
community - our common home - where each one is listened to and has
her irreplaceable position in the building of the Kingdom of God.

3. The last reflection refers to vocational
pastoral work, considered as work of the whole community of
believers and who sees vocation as the calling to a mature Christian
life and that makes room for all the gifts of the Spirit (NMI, 46).
It is urgent to pass from proposals and projects to work, especially
at the diocesan and parish level. Pastoral work should be promoted
by vocations marked by the upgrading in quality of which the Holy
Father spoke of in his Message of 1997; pastoral work that
stimulates all the baptized to take on the responsibility for their
own lives as witnesses of Christ and for the life of the Church;
pastoral work that reaches the parishes, the families, the young,
the educational centers. Pastoral work should be done in harmony and
with the collaboration of the whole diocesan community, bishops,
priests, consecrated people, lay faithful; direct pastoral work that
invites everyone to give a response to the calling of God, but that
gives a special opportunity to those sons and daughters of their own
communities who desire to give themselves totally to the cause of
Jesus Christ and of His Body which is the Church, considering them a
sign of maturity of the community.

My name is Arnaud Devillers. I am the Superior
General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, very much a new
community, since we are completing our 12th year of
existence this month. In spite of this youth, we have just bui1t two
major seminaries, one in America and the other one in Europe. Our
mother house is in southern Germany in the diocese of Augsburg and I
have been living there for over a year. I am speaking in English as
I am still in the via purgativa in trying to master the
German language! Many here have insisted -and rightly so-- on the
spiritual fatherhood of the Bishop. I would like to share my
experience with you about the spiritual needs of some of your
children.

For the last twelve years, I -and my
fellow-priests- have ministered to a certain category of faithful.
These faithful are of various ethnic origins, both rich and poor,
old and young, educated or not, practicing or not, in full communion
with their bishop or not, cradle Catholics or converts, but they do
have one point in common, they insist, in order to practice their
faith, in going or wishing to go, to a Latin Mass according to the
1962 Roman Missal. To do so, they do not hesitate to undergo great
personal and family sacrifices. For most of them, it is not a
nostalgia trip as they would be too young anyway to remember it.
Their motivations are various, some legitimate, some not. For some,
it is only a preference, for others, they feel much more strongly.
For all of them, they seem to find in it their spiritua1 fulfillment
and happiness.

In Ju1y 1988, in response to a break in the
church, the Sovereign Pontiff gave Motu Proprio an Apostolic
letter Ecclesia Dei Adflicta in which he declared that this
"attachment to previous liturgica1 and disciplinary forms of
the Latin tradition" constituted some "rightful
aspirations" and asked "for the support of the bishops and
all those engaged in the pastoral ministry". "Moreover,
respect must everywhere be shown for the fee1ings of all those who
are attached to the Latin liturgica1 tradition, by a wide and:generous
application of the directives already issued some time ago by the
Apostolic See, for the use of the Roman Missal according to the
typica1 edition of 1962." Many bishops have indeed been
generous regarding this call of the Holy Father and, in their
diocese, the faithful may have this liturgical option. On behalf of
all those faithful, I would like to thank the Holy Father and all
those bishops who heeded his call.

Wherever the local bishop supports and encourages
this work, the resu1ts are tru1y amazing. People who had left the
faith or church practice become not only regular church goers but
gradually begin to grasp more fully the mystery of the church,
hierarchy and communion. Often they will become very generous with
their time in various diocesan ministries for example in the prolife
apostolate.

I finish these words with a plea to all those who
have charge of a diocese: please respond generously to the call from
our Holy Father in granting the Indult Mass to those who request it.
As I traveled and visited groups of faithful, I often felt I had
brought hope to them but could not help feel a haunting doubt: what
if their hope is crushed? For this ministry to be successful, make
sure they feel they are welcome and that you are also their father,
make sure you appoint a priest who will have the empathy, time and
patience to be their pastor and who will work in full communion with
you and your presbyterate, and then you will see amazing effects of
grace. If you cannot find such a priest, do not hesitate to call...

I refer to numbers 28, 96 and 109 of Instrumentum
laboris. Evangelization by educating the new generations is a
commitment which cannot be disregarded at the beginning of the third
millennium.

On these matters I share the following four
convictions:

1. Educating means to make culture: In the crisis
we are experiencing, the mission to educate commits us to draw up
with young people cultural proposals inspired by evangelical values.
The Instrumentum laboris encourages the promotion of a wide range of
initiatives, such as the creation of Catholic universities, and the
strengthening of Catholic schools (cf. IL 109). In this task the
bishops can count on the cooperation of the lay faithful and
religious — both men and women — who can offer significant
contributions in the different areas of science, art, and technology
in the service of truth on the human person and the destiny of
peoples.

Young people involved in seeking teachers, who
are above all witnesses, activate their resources in a cultural
dialogue, which strengthens their faith, makes them evangelizers of
their contemporaries and capable of giving reasons for their own
hope.

2. Every life is a vocation: the vocational
dimension, which conceives life as a gift and task, is intrinsic in
Christian education and prepares to live, in the Church as communion
of gifts, mutual strengthening of vocations at the service of the
one mission. It involves young people in discerning the plan of God
over them, supports them in fundamental choices of existence through
listening, dialogue, and personalised accompaniment.

3. God created the human person in His own image,
male and female he created them (cf. Gen 1:27). This conviction
engages to educate in compliance with a sole-dual biblical proposal
on the human person. The educational practice is still far from
integrating, into fundamental equality, the prospects of reciprocity.
The Trinitarian mystery revealed by Jesus projects a new light not
only on the man-woman relationship, but also on the beauty of every
difference — personal or cultural — when this is taken as a
point of mutual strengthening in welcoming, dialogue and communion.

I wish to point out here the phenomenon of the
trafficking of women and children in the sexual market. The most
serious aspect consists in human deprivation of those who promote
and encourage it. The effects are the loss of the meaning of human
love, the splitting up of the family, the dehumanisation of culture.

The Holy Father urges the recognising of the
genius of woman (cf. MD 30) in favour of life and of the
humanisation of culture.

4. Educate ourselves and educate to globalize
solidarity: to value a consistent and updated vision of the social
doctrine of the Church is one of the most significant opportunities
to offer a contribution to renew culture and a solid basis for
ecumenical, interreligious and inter-cultural dialogue.

The reawakening of civil society is a recent
phenomenon which strongly calls for education for the active,
critical and proposing citizenship far from resorting to violence.
Young people, in growing number, express their availability to
commit themselves through voluntary work also in the ad gentes mission,
in activities which promote respect for human rights, solidarity
and peace. On being in contact with the life of the poor they
recognize the fundamental value of existence, freed from the heavy
influence of the consumer society.

Can the Church use human resources within each
diocese - professional, retired people, to spread the Kingdom of God
- by being involved in parish work in the establishment of
sustainable development projects that could benefit the unemployed?

The new generation of young highly profiled who
are in government position in business and self-employed; can they
be brought in, can they be helped with their spiritual life? They
are definitely drifting from the Church. They are rich and are
self-sufficient.

I would like to concentrate on the events of
September 11th. The Synod under way is perceived as a
message similar to a "sign of the times" (cf. IL 144). My
testimony will be a contribution to an interpretation, expressing
some "hopes" about the Christian commitment in social,
political and cultural action, as well as regarding the formation of
priests and the profile of the Bishop.

THE EVENT AND ITS INTERPRETATION.

It is evident that every true event shows the
paradox of power, with specific rationality and perversions. The
events of September 11th, whose inhuman and sinful
character cannot be underrated, and provide "food for thought"
for their new, challenging aspect and the need for a response in the
social, economic, political, ethical and cultural spheres. The
self-sufficiency of a certain type of globalization, the "end
of history" of the unbridled market, a form of liberal politics
and "single thought" have all been shaken, as have a
certain ingenuity or insufficiency, moralistic denunciation and
certain "isms". These attitudes fail to recognize that
what is new is the bursting in of terror and the anxious search for
safety, which require prudent political responses, in an economic
universe whose materialistic logic is usefulness and effectiveness
and whose ethos is the primacy of instrumental reason, reality as a
self-sufficient structural process and a functional action of "subjects"
without greater identity.

...FOR THE HOPE OF THE WORLD

A Catholic thinker conceived hope as hoping in
Someone and hoping something. The first part is personal and
personalizing; the second part, tempted by "orientation towards
an object", nevertheless highlights our incarnated condition.
Some "hopes": an initial one, without avoiding the
prophetic denunciation, going deeply into positive proclamation and
commitment in favor of organized action in the world of work;
effective witness and action in the various spheres of cultural,
scientific and artistic activity, rising to encounter the
disqualification of politics, a particular area for humanzation and
charitable deeds, and where the real evils can only be resolved with
more and better politics. A second "hope", the updating
and deepening of spiritual, theological and human formation of the
new priests, for greater attention to the structuring of their study
centers and the formation of a type of priest more in tune with the
new evangelizing needs.

A final "hope" on the profile of the
bishop for the new cultural situation: a man with capacity for
opening to and welcoming the recognition of the new aspect produced
by the Spirit of the Lord, being human in all, for the freedom by
which "man infinitely goes beyond man", and in His Church,
making her live in the truth of which is God and God only is
"the absolute future of man".

The theme, "The Bishop: Servant of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ for the Hope of the World" has urgent
relevance for the family. The Trinitarian Communion manifested by
the Bishop for the unity of the particular Church has special
meaning for the Christian Family. The spirituality of Trinitarian
Communion has an ontological foundation. One of the most important
contributions of Familiaris Consortio is its emphasis upon
Trinitarian Communion as an informing principle of family life and
family structure. This awareness of the Trinitarian character of the
family allows us to see more clearly the ecclesial role of the
family as domestic Church as envisioned by its role in the New
Evangelization. If the family is to realize more fully and in
concrete ways its ecclesial reality, the Christian Family will
require a greater communion and solidarity with the Bishop. Thus,
the question: Can the Bishop manifest Trinitarian Communion with the
domestic Church in ways similar to his manifestation of Trinitarian
Communion to the particular Church and the Universal Church? The
ontological reality of the Trinitarian Communion informing the
structure of all human relations (and especially the family) make
more clear that associations, such as the Knights of Columbus, that
combine concern for family life with provision for its financial
security and that help the Laity realize its mission to renew
society, are mediating structures, they can integrate the Laity and
its mission within the daily life of the Parish when undertaken in
solidarity with Bishop.

I would like to offer my reflections on a matter
which, in my opinion, has not yet received sufficient attention.
That is the question of the manner of our being Church in the World,
and thus also of our being Bishop of this Church for the hope of
this World.

When the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes
was promulgated in 1965, I was stilI a young seminarian, and yet I
still remember the enthusiasm which this inspiring product of the
Fathers of the Second Vatican Council aroused in us. The document
presented a refreshing image of the Church as a community of the
followers of Christ, who experience themselves as being part of and
in solidarity with all mankind in their joys and hopes, griefs and
anxieties, a Church that does not remain aloof, but is really
incarnated in the midst of the community of mankind.

As followers of Christ, we must be a Church that
is fully and intimately linked with mankind and its history. Nothing
genuinely human is foreign to the Church. It is only in being a
Church in solidarity with the world that we will be able to give
hope to the World. In whatever part of the world we live, the Bishop
with his Church community lives in the world of a larger human
community which is a pluralistic and heterogeneous community of
different religions and beliefs, of different cultures and languages.
Is our presence as Church community a sign of hope? Are we in
solidarity with and do we take part in their struggles to work for
the common good for everyone, whatever their religion or belief,
culture or ethnicity? The bishop should be a champion of a new human
brotherhood where there is justice and peace for everybody.

And here we find the important role of our lay
people. We bishops should be able to empower our laity for
establishing a new human brotherhood based on genuine human values
which are basically Christian values. The Great Assembly of the
Catholic Church in Indonesia for the celebration of the Jubilee Year,
recognizes the key role of the laity who through their presence and
activities, not only within the basic ecclesial communities, but
also and especially within the basic human communities of their life
and work, will be able to put into practice the gospel values of
justice and love, of peace and brotherhood. If this be done there
will be hope for the whole world, with each one starting from their
own little world where they live and work.

In Botswana, HIV/Aids has so devastated our
people that they often seem to be like people without hope. One
third of our population is infected by the deadly virus and all of
us are affected by it. How can one have hope when one sees many
young people dying? What can you say to people in such desolate and
inconsolable state? We see the example ofthe suffering Christ in
these people. Has the Father abandoned them? No by no means.

There are many faithfully married people who have
been infected by their unfaithful partners. These could be
considered as martyrs of faith. They were faithful and innocent but
were infected by another one. There are priests and other health
workers who face sick people daily and are being shattered by the
experience of hopelessness. They are crying out to the church to
minister to them. They look up to the Bishop.

The Bishop is called upon to bring hope to the
people by his presence. He is present when he visits the communities
of his diocese. He can be present to them when he celebrates the
Eucharist as the chief minister and when he confers the sacrament of
confirmation on his people. The Bishop should also have healing
services for his people to reassure them ofthe Father's love and
administer the sacrament ofthe sick to them. The Bishop can be the
first minister to the sick. The Bishop should establish a sort of
ministry to healthcare providers. They need encouragement and hope.

The Bishop brings hope to the sick when he visits
them both at home and in the hospital. This way, he brings God's
compassion and consolation to them. He identifies with them in their
pain. He gently leads them like a good shepherd to the green
pastures of the Father's love. Some people have committed suicide
when they got to know that they are HIV positive. They had lost hope
and meaning in life. The Bishop helps the terminally sick to accept
their condition and make peace with God. I acknowledge the great
role Religious, especially women, play in this ministry of serving
the sick. They take risks in serving the sick. I salute them all.

The Bishop answers the question of God to Cain:
"Where is your brother?" The Bishop becomes his brother's
and sister's keeper. He looks for his/her good and seeks ways to
help him/her overcome difficulties.

In this context, the Bishop is seen as the
promoter of hope in a hopeless situation. He is a minister of hope.
He shares from his own experience of life among his people. As a man
of faith, I know that even the wildest fire burns itself out and so
will this pandemic. The Bishop should preach the everlasting word of
hope in God's love and compassion. In the face of the dreadful
scourge of the HIV/Aids in our country, people are looking up to the
Bishops to provide leadership in breaking down the taboos that
prevent the correct education in sexual matters, and to provide care
for the sick and to help prevent new infections by encouraging
behavior change. This is where the message of faithfulness to the
Christian message can bring hope to the people.

My intervention today is inspired by the third
chapter of the Instrumentum Laboris. I refer to the search for
different ways to highlight, promote, strengthen and help in the
carrying out of the universal ecclesial dimension of pastoral care
by every bishop, arising from our experience of faith and not from
our talents and preoccupation in the field of organizational
structures. I agree with what Cardinal Ratzinger said: we need more
Spirit and less organization.

My proposal is simply to create structures of
economic solidarity to help the poor dioceses of the world to invest
their resources and charitable gifts they receive from other
dioceses in such a way that the poor dioceses may survive
globalization.

As part of its teaching on the ecclesiology of
communion, as in our Instrumentum Laboris, Vatican Council II
underlined the need for the dioceses and the other ecclesial
communities to give part of their economic resources to the poorer
dioceses, thus providing mutual help to fulfil their common mission.
(Cf. LG 13, 23; CD 6; AA 10; AG 19, 29 38).

This principle has been set forth in Canon 1271,
1274.3 and above all 1275, which mentions how the richer local
Churches can help the poorer ones. The Holy Father dealt with this
topic in Nos. 37 and 38 of Ecclesia in America. Canon 1275 insists
on the fact that the funds allocated for these programs must be
administered in accordance with the regulations made by the bishops
having jurisdiction. On the other hand, my proposal is not limited
to concrete economic help, but is intended to add the necessary
expertise to ensure the economic solidity of these funds and to
survive the pace, often devastating for the poor, of today’s
global economy.

At present I cannot be more explicit. I think
that we could at least request that a study be made on this subject,
consulting the national and regional episcopal conferences which
have facilities that somehow respond to this concern.

Finally, I would like to conclude by saying that
I am induced to make this proposal not due to economic or
administrative reasons, but to the desire, in a globalized world, to
highlight another type of "globalization" which is the
City of God pilgrim in this world and which is based on the Mystery
of the Trinitarian Communion of which we are part through Our Lord
Jesus Christ and of which the Church is the mystery/sacrament.

Only by entering into this Mystery can we
discover what it means today to be servant of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ for the hope of the world.

Without taking away the importance of many and
various ministries that the Instrumentum laboris attributes
to the mission of the bishop in the historic moment which the Church
and humanity are living, we have considered it opportune to
underline in a clear and clean way that the service to the poor, in
many aspects, must constitute one of the biggest needs for the
Priests, overall in many countries and continents where extreme
poverty has spread, the social inequalities and the ignorance of
dignity and inalienable rights of human persons. We believe that in
this way we can follow faithfully the teachings and the examples of
the Divine Teacher and the numerous references of the Magisterium
of the Church, especially in the current pontificate of Pope John
Paul II.

We believe that working tirelessly for the cause
of the poor and marginalized (who tend to increase with the
so-called "globalization" and with the so-called world
"free market") is the best way to accompany our people in
their journey towards a faithful way of living our Faith, aware that
this attitude of the Priests consists of a clear announcement of the
Good News of the Kingdom.

The Instrumentum laboris explains in these
terms in different passages, adding what is said, to no. 145, the
Social Doctrine of the Church, which "far from being an
addition to the Christian message, is an essential part of it,
because it teaches the direct implications of the Gospel on life and
society." After we have remembered the teachings of the Magisterium
on this matter, it ends by saying that "It is up to the local
Churches, in communion with the See of Peter and among them, brings
this same doctrine to concrete actualities." All this must lead
us not to "pass beyond" in front of many people hurt and
wounded by social injustice and by the violations of dignity and
human rights, but in fact to be good Samaritans: hose who care for
the many wounds that our humble people are afflicted with and, in
the midst of that pain and tiredness grow. " What moves us is
the charity of Christ" (cf. 2 Cor 8:14).

In developing countries, such as those of Africa,
the Diocesan Bishop, being the "headand the spouse" of his
particular church ( Diocese ) would not be a sign of hope to the
people entrusted to him unless he involves himself fully in the
struggle for the human development of his people. Indeed, the
involvement of the Bishop in the integral development of his flock
should in no way be considered as a hobby but rather a vocation,
mission and duty to be carefully accomplished. It is a vocation from
Jesus Christ the Good Shepherd who summons and urges the Bishop to
join in His ministry to the people of God in a given area. Cf.
Matthew ( 9:35-38 ). Indeed, I do believe that, the stated healing
and Evangelization tour made by our Lord Jesus Christ in the
villages and towns of Galilee during His public ministry is
currently being realized in the well-to-do and poor villages of
Africa, in the clean and filthy towns and suburbs of our African
Countries, in the market places and streets of our cities where many
of the sons and daughters of Africa, created in the same image and
likeness of God are gradually being wiped out by the scourge of
malaria and HIV/AIDS pandemic. For sure, the Risen Lord is struck by
compassion and moved by pity and consequently appeals to us all,
shepherds of the entire Church and in particular to the Bishops of
Africa, for the sake of diminishing and eventually eradicating the
diseases of malaria and HIV/AIDS in our respective dioceses. The
Lord Himself is requesting us to seek a helping hand from His Father
for He reaIizes how difficult the situation is if left to our own
power and will. Cf.Luke ( 11: 9-13). Powerless as we are, let us ask,
seek and knock to the Heavenly Father for the gift of the Holy
Spirit in order to be inspired to understand the specificity of this
vocation by realizing that:

The Risen Lord has no other feet but ours to
bring Good news to the poor - indeed how good are the feet of the
one bringing Good News to the poor.

Jesus, the Risen Lord, has no other hands but
ours, to confer blessing to the afflicted, anointing to the sick,
healing to the wounded and assistance to the needy and poor.

Christ has no other mind but ours to survey,
analyse and interpret the devastating socio-economic, politico and
cultural situations and eventually come up with priorities, programs,
projects and strategic plans for an effective and efficient action.

Above alI, Christ has no other heart but ours in
which to love all people and consequent1y inspire hope for the
people, their society and for the entire world.

By being called to the office of a Bìshop, the
person concerned is not only called, as if it were, to assist or to
help Jesus Christ in His work of Evangelization! Indeed, having
interiorized the person, mission and vocation of Jesus Christ, with
regard to the need for the integral human development of the flock,
the Bishop is expected to take up this work of Christ and make it
his own personal DUTY. He would then exteriorize the same mission
and vocation as his duty or obligation and call upon others from
within the diocese and from without to collaborate in the
realization of this cherished DUTY. In conclusion, allow me on
behalf of the Episcopal Conferences of AMECEA countries, as well as
on my own behalf, to express our sincere gratitude for the
solidarity and the support given us by our brother Bishops. By
supporting us to realize our vocation, mission and duty of involving
ourselves fully into the integral human development endeavour of the
flock entrusted to us, you have indeed enabled us to be a sign of
hope to our people.

Of the many challenges facing our Church and our
shepherds, two must have our special attention.

1. The identity of our Church.

Chad is an error made by colonial history because
it was created from a lot of pieces, which in part explains today’s
drama. Facing Islam (51% of the Nation), our Church is called to say
what she is and, by giving herself an identity, manifests her
capability to draw from the Gospel of Jesus Christ the energies
needed to face the situations of underdevelopment we find ourselves
in. The ecclesiology of the Church-family of God contributed to
giving an identity to our Church because it touches upon the search
for recognition through relations allowing her a "more-being".
This vision of Church-family of God places the Pope and more
immediately the Bishop at the center of the life of the family.
Through sacramental communion with other Bishops and as promoters of
the sole mission of Christ, he must be vigilant with solicitude of
the "witness of faith", cum et sub Petro.

2. The responsibility of our Church-family.

The deplorable economic situation of our dioceses
constitutes a serious preoccupation for our shepherds. Number 74 of
the Instrumentum Laboris suggests that relations of mutual aid be
established between the large and the smaller dioceses... The
pessimistic considerations and the unfavorable judgments on Africa
that prevail in international relations may negatively influence the
way these relations of aid will be lived. The ecclesiology of
communion and unity in the mission may be erroneous... unless
conversion occurs in this regard on both sides.

Two wishes:

1. To better develop the places for the
expression of episcopal communion.

2. That the elder churches may bear a "technical
and multiform and programmed support" towards the younger
churches to help them put into place the structures necessary for a
good management of their pastoral projects or human promotion.

The opening prayer for the Sixteenth General
Congregation, of Thursday morning October 11th 2001, "for
the victims of the terrorist attack in the USA" and "for
peace in the world"will be broadcast live from the
Synod Hall to the Holy See Press Office.

The Second Press Conference on the works of the X
Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, after the Relatio
post disceptationem will take place on Friday, October 12th
2001 at 12:45 in the John Paul II Hall of the Holy See Press Office.

The eighth information pool for the Synod Hall
will be formed for the opening prayer of the Sixteenth General
Congregation of Thursday morning, October 11th 2001.

The list for registration to the pool is
available to the editors at the Information and Accreditation Office
of the Holy See Press Office (at the entrance, on the right).

We would like to recall that the audio-visual
operators (cameramen and technicians) and photographers are kindly
requested to apply to the Pontifical Council for Social
Communications to participate in the information pool for the Synod
Hall.

We would also like to remind the participants in
the Information Pool that they are kindly requested to be at the
Press Area at 8:30 a.m., outside the entrance of the Paul VI Hall,
when they will be called by name to enter the Synod Hall, always
accompanied respectively by an officer of the Holy See Press Office
and from the Pontifical Council for Social Communications.

The next Bulletin No. 19 will be available to the
accredited journalists at the conclusion of the works of the
Sixteenth General Congregation of the X Ordinary General Assembly of
the Synod of Bishops, on the morning of Thursday October 11th
2001.